The first few listens reveals a different Something For Kate. Much like how the sound for Beautiful Sharks was re-tailored following on from the fantastically jagged Elsewhere for Eight Minutes. The discordant hooks, lurching rhythms, and serrated voice have not necessarily been abandoned, but have been compacted and layer over like water and sand over sharp shells, leaving a smooth impression, yet on close inspection revealing the multifarious ridges and vales veiled within. However Something For Kate's greatest asset, namely its pertinence, has not only been retained but enhanced. The best music is that which moves or affects you, and Paul Dempsey has the uncanny knack of saying something that grabs and makes an impression. Whether it's the bridge of first single Monsters where he serenely appeals the listener to "hold it in your hands", or the acutely Aimee Mann mantra Jerry, Stand Up, where he fervently reminds a disaffected worker "once upon a time you were running/singing to the crowds every morning or maybe the entire first verse of the truly beautiful heart-rendering You Only Hide... "So I keep watch and you keep breaking/Breaking formation to become someone else/And your eyes become corridors/ Where I wander/With a candle/Calling out to you." The lyrics are not trying to be overly clever in an abstract "I read Derrida" sort of way, but just pertinent (although the line "If I listen to the seconds/They remeind me of Echola-la-la-la-la-la-lia" in Three Dimensions is quite clever, I must admit)

Of course, the lyrics would fail to impress if the music was ineffective, yet further could be from the truth. Echolalia is awash with melodies that, whilst incisive, are fully rounded, where hooks and grooves complement the songs in layers, not divert them into new directions. This is the product of an assured band that doesn't grab and push you off the pier in an effort to be heard, but rather slowly creeps its way in like high tide. And like lying on the beach when the tide comes in, this outstanding album both nurtures and threatens, comforts and unsettles, and will eventually wash all over you.

- Jayson Argall